Hoekstra letter: Uninsured in Idaho

“We have to take into consideration that there are those in the 78,000 [uninsured gap population] who could pay for their health insurance if they just worked a little more.”

This statement was made recently by Sen. Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston, a member of Idaho’s legislative panel studying Idaho’s options of insuring 78,000 people who do not quality for state health care assistance, but who do not make enough to afford private insurance.

I would challenge Sen. Lodge to point to demographic statistics that bear out this “fact.” Indeed, most of the 78,0000 struggling uninsured are working as hard as they can, but at low wages. A remark like this simply perpetuates that horrid myth that poor people could get ahead if they just weren’t so lazy.